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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24503086">Portrait of Confusion</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenafics/pseuds/thenafics'>thenafics</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>T's JayTim week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types, DCU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, JayTim Week, JayTim Week 2020, M/M, lit major jason, photography major tim</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 06:08:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,065</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24503086</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenafics/pseuds/thenafics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason is a wreck. He doesn't know how to deal with a cute guy. And he especially doesn't know how to deal with a cute guy who for some reason wants him as the subject of a photograph.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tim Drake/Jason Todd</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>T's JayTim week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1770424</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>262</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Portrait of Confusion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Monday, June 1: College AU OR Chef/Baker AU</p><p>A little short, but I hope this is a nice light hearted one!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Some things are just facts. Earth is round. Water is wet. The sophomore in Jason’s logic course is gorgeous and absolutely capable of bending Jason in half. His name is Tim and he is simultaneously adorable and terrifying in a way that makes Jason’s knees turn into jelly. Tim switches from sleepy little raccoon to business shark easily depending on the day of the week, alternating frequently between comically oversized sweatshirts and finely tailored suits seemingly on a whim. Any time Tim fixes those ice-chip eyes on Jason, his ability to focus goes entirely out the window.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Needless to say, when Tim actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>talks</span>
  </em>
  <span> to Jason one day, Jason practically short circuits. He comes up to Jason after class and says words that Jason only vaguely comprehends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! Jason, right?” Tim asks. It takes Jason a full minute to respond. A minute during which Tim looks at him with a mildly amused expression that fits his face perfectly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Y-yeah?” Nailed it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So this might be a bit of a weird question, but would you be willing to help me with my portrait photography final?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure?” This is not how Jason thought his first conversation with the hot guy in his class would go. “Like holding lights and stuff?” Jason can’t think of what else Tim would need his help with aside from something involving his physical strength. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ha, no, no. You’d be the subject.” Tim looks a little awkward as he reaches up to rub the back of his neck. “It’s cool if you don’t want to, but I, uh, I just think you’d make a really compelling subject.” Both of them are flushed and self conscious at this point.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m always really awkward in photos.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a little different than just having your photo taken normally. I promise! We can talk some more so we’re comfortable with each other before we even start on getting you comfortable with the camera.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jason’s mouth proceeds to do that thing where it starts talking before it’s consulted his brain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure. We can get coffee and talk about schedule. I don’t have anymore classes if you’re free now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>On one hand, Jason has just successfully asked Tim to go get coffee with him. On the other hand, Jason is 100%  not prepared to go get coffee with Tim. He hasn’t had any time to run through social scripts in his head or figure out possible avenues for the conversation to go down. Combine that with a hot guy and it’s a recipe for Jason to make a fool of himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a date! If that’s ok?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, that’s ok.” Jason replies breathlessly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Perfect. I’m paying though!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shockingly, it goes very well. Once Jason gets a little more confident at seeing Tim bumble almost as much as he does, their conversation flows pretty naturally. They share a mutual love of Star Trek. Despite Tim’s insistence that Kirk is better than Picard, they bond a bit over that. They do agree that Uhura is way more badass than Kirk in the new movies. Tim sounds genuinely interested in Jason’s thesis project about cross cultural story-telling archetypes, which Jason thinks is practically a sign from the heavens to spend more time with Tim. Even if he gets a medium cup filled to the top with espresso and drinks it with no sugar at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They meet on Friday afternoon in the on-campus studio Tim’s reserved for the day. The first 30 minutes are spent getting set up, moving lights and getting the backdrop into place. It’s not until all the set up is done and Jason is left staring at a floor full of flowers that he realizes he never actually asked Tim what the theme of these photos was going to be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright!” Tim says, clapping his hands together. “Let’s get started! I have a shirt for you to wear, but if you don’t mind, for some of the later photos I’d like to have you shirtless.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jason takes the gauzy poet shirt in one hand and stares dumbly at it for a moment before shrugging off his leather jacket. Tim turns to putter around with some of the equipment and Jason takes that as his opportunity to change. The shirt, once it’s on, is more see through than Jason was expecting, but it fits and doesn’t look totally awful with his black jeans. Tim seems very pleased with it when he sees how it looks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Tim says as he brushes some sort of powder foundation over Jason’s skin. “The goal is for you to look very peaceful. Think Sleeping Beauty just waking up. Look up for me?” He runs a dark pencil under Jason’s eyelashes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Putting on the lipgloss is an almost painfully intimate procedure that has them both blushing the whole way through. Both of them keep sneaking looks at each other and then pretending they aren’t even though the other person can very clearly see. It’s borderline romcom material. If Tim hadn’t spent so much time on his lips, Jason would probably kiss him. As it is, Tim pecks Jason on the cheek before arranging him laying on top of the flowers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blush that overtook Jason’s face at that first peck was apparently exactly the look Tim was going for because he swoops in periodically to plant little kisses on Jason’s face, his neck, his exposed collar bone. When Tim finally does ask Jason to remove the shirt, Jason is a blushing mess, deeply flustered by the gentle affection and TIm’s constant praise of how well he’s doing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before the final cluster of photos, Tim gives Jason a thorough kiss right on the lips. He gets his hands in Jason’s hair and steals his breath away before pulling back to snap the final shots. Jason can’t keep his eyes off the lip gloss smeared onto Tim’s mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The last burst of photos is borderline pornographic. Jason looks absolutely undone. He asks Tim not to turn the photos from the last burst in, but he does let Tim set one as his home screen. The little gremlin has no shame. Jason makes him take one to match for his own phone of Tim laying in a pile of empty coffee cups.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tim takes Jason to the final class exhibit and holds his hand in front of the portrait of Jason laying half awake against the flowers. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you wanna see more of what I do or send in a prompt, head over to my <a href="https://thenafics.tumblr.com/"> tumblr&lt;3</a><br/>and talk to me!<br/>As always, thank you so much for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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